Gareth Knight: Tech4Africa 2015 to concentrate on local stories

Tech4Africa 2015, in its new home at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg will concentrate on telling local stories rather than those of international tech hotshots.

According to press release sent to Memeburn, the conference sees the shift in focus as a validation of its community speaker submission platform, which has helped ot uncover and profile local stories, successes and learnings.

“In 2013 we realised that the local market is very different to the international one, says Tech4Africa founder Gareth Knight, “and whilst everyone wants to imitate the Valley hotshots, the reality is that the combination of market size, buying power, skills and access to capital all mean a different playing field for everyone on the ground, and so we narrowed focus on the local stories which make up the local ecosystem.”

Over the two full days, Tech4Africa will be featuring 55 speakers over 12 speaker tracks, a Hackathon for two days before the main event, and alongside the accelerator SW7 a specialist Startup Day “by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs” afterwards.

Amongst the 55 speaker sessions, Fraser Black and Nicholas Wallander will be talking about the deal behind their investment deal for their ecommerce site “SA Florist” on Dragons Den. Nic Haralambous will be talking about what it’s like to sell a mobile Startup and then build a profitable ecommerce business selling socks online and in stores. Steve Evans will be talking about the “Underdog mentality” and what it takes to bring down established Giants.

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A number of those speakers also spoke at the Cape Town edition of the conference, something which Knight says is no accident.

“In Cape Town the stories these guys told really resonated with everyone,” he says. “It’s real, it’s current, and it’s relevant. You’re getting it straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth, so the learning is fantastic.”

“This year we’re really excited about the speaker quality we’ve seen start the speaking process,” the Tech4Africa founder adds. “It’s taken a big bet on the ecosystem, and after 3 years it feels like everyone is finally realising that we’re only about good content, not Death by Powerpoint and certainly not snorefests”.

Registration for Tech4Africa can be done on the conference website. Tickets are R500 for the main event on 7 and 8 October, and R350 for the Startup Day on the 9th October. The Hackathon which takes place on 5 and 6 October is free.